Dystopian dark tourism: An exploratory examination

• A new theoretical model is presented that focuses on the emerging phenomena of dystopian dark tourism (DDT).
• Increases in dystopian dark tourism may be a result of a great deal of uncertainty about the future.
• Dark aesthetics relate to tourists' encounters with orthodoxies of media immersion, social convention and politics.

This paper discusses the rapidly emerging fascination with dystopian dark tourism. Using participatory observation, this exploratory study examines and analyzes three specific destinations where tourists engage with both death and dystopia. Through our examination of the Charles Manson ‘Helter Skelter Tour’ in Los Angeles, the H.R. Giger Museum in Gruyeres, Switzerland and the Inferno Music Festival in both Lausanne, Switzerland and Oslo, Norway, we present a model of dystopian dark tourism that integrates dark aesthetics, simulation, emotional contagion and the current global cultural fascination with both utopia and dystopia. We posit that interest in dystopian dark tourism experiences is reflective of an increased insecurity about death, society and its relationship to violence and cultural production.